SoHo Night

Tonight was SoHo Night, which meant some galleries were open later than normal. Maybe it meant restaurants were offering specials, too; I'm not sure about that.  I was looking forward to visiting two Dia Art Foundation sites. 

I first learned about Dia when I read a book called Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West by Erin Hogan.  Dia Art Foundation was founded in 1974 and, according to literature I picked up tonight, its purpose is

initiating, supporting...(and) preserving art projects.  Dia also maintains long-term, site-specific projects through the country and world.

I was really intrigued by Dia after I read the book because they sponsor a particularly interesting site in New Mexico.  When I researched Dia a bit more, I learned the foundation maintains several sites in NYC.

It is impossible, at least at the time of this writing, to find a description of Dia on its website.  You can, however, read a little bit about the two exhibits I went to see - the Earth Room and the Broken Kilometer.

The Earth Room is just that - a room of earth, as seen here. 

This view is a little deceiving as it doesn't truly reflect the immensity of this "sculpture" (the name provided in Dia literature).  The picture shows just the narrow passageway through which you see the opposite wall, which is not too far away. What can't be seen is the distance left or right; it's far greater than the width. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the soil is retained by glass, not a solid (black) wall, as it may seem.

The soil is very clumped. For some reason I thought (heard?) there were earth worms in the soil but that doesn't seem to be the case. The soil is 22 inches (56 centimeters) deep, which takes it right up to the window sills. The windows on the left had a lot of condensation but the windows on the right did not. You could feel the humidity from the soil. (I understand why the exhibit is open only through September - June. I'm sure they don't air condition the Earth Room.)

The Earth Room is on the second floor of a building. Remarkably, the earth weighs 280,000 pounds (127,300 kilos). I don't know a lot about structural engineering but that seems to be quite a feat.

The artist, Walter de Maria, has created three Earth Rooms. The first two were in Germany. The only remaining one is this one in NYC, which has been on public display since 1980. (It was "sculpted" in 1977.) It's in a huge room in SoHo, taking up prime real estate. I can only imagine that Dia owns this building and bought it before SoHo was "chic and hip." Paying rent on this space for 30 years would be out of the question - and there is no revenue from visitors as there is no fee for viewing this site at 141 Wooster Street.

After I left the Earth Room I ventured to the Broken Kilometer, which has been on public display since 1979. This is also a Walter de Maria piece.

Like the Earth Room, it was commissioned by and is maintained by Dia.  It is composed of

500 highly polished, round, solid brass rods...The rods are placed five parallel rows of 100 rows each...Each rod is placed such that the spaces between the rods increase by 5 millimeters with each consecutive space...The front rods of each row are placed 80 millimeters apart, the last two rods are placed 570 millimeters apart. 

The work is 45 feet wide and 125 feet long and weighs 18 3/4 tons.  You, too, can see this at 393 West Broadway.
 
I have prided myself on being open-minded when I view artwork and I generally can appreciate that which I view in some way.  I struggled to understand these works. While they made me smile because of their uniqueness - and well, maybe outrageousness - I felt like I didn't "get" them.  I wondered about all of the money spent on them.  I guess, because they made me think, that is part of their value?
 
I left Broken Kilometer and wandered through fancy-store SoHo down to Canal Street, where I ate at Thai So'n (named after a mountain in North Vietnam) at 89 Baxter Street.  The food was good, but the service was exceptionally strange.  I entered and said "One, please" and was told to wait.  Next, a couple came in and they were immediately seated.  After that, another couple came in and they were about to be seated when I spoke up.  I was asked to sit with this couple at a 6-top.  Minutes after we ordered (they were asked to order first, although I was clearly ready before them), we in inexplicably asked to move to another 6-top.  No one ever sat at the table we vacated.  I had more strangeness when I tried to get the check...and then more when I wanted to box my leftovers.  So, go for decent, inexpensive food, but not as a party of one.
 
I wandered home from SoHo night on the 6 train, happy that my "bucket list" could be updated and with a full stomach.